Method of accommodating periodic interfering signals in a wireless network

Abstract

A method is provided for accommodating periodic interfering signals in a wireless network. In this method, a network scans a transmission medium to locate any interfering signals. If it finds interfering signals, the scan determines their period, and the network alters the period of its superframes such that: either the period of the superframes is equal to the period of the interfering signals; the period of the superframes is an integer multiple of the period of the interfering signals; or the period of the interfering signals is an integer multiple of the period of the superframes. The network then alters the position of the superframes relative to the position of the interfering signals to arrange things such that no portion of the interfering signal interferes with a superframe beacon, such that that a maximum amount of contiguous channel time is provided in each superframe, or both.

1. A method of accommodating regularly intermittent interfering signals in a wireless network, comprising:
 scanning in a transmission medium at a coordinator device for the regularly intermittent interfering signals; 
 measuring a current repetition period of the regularly intermittent interfering signals; and 
 altering a superframe period in the wireless network such that the superframe period is equal to the current repetition period of the regularly intermittent interfering signals, 
 wherein the regularly intermittent interfering signals are present in the transmission medium during a series of first regularly-repeating time durations, and are absent from the transmission medium during a series of second regularly-repeating time durations, and 
 wherein the repetition period indicates how frequently the first regularly-repeating time durations occur. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of accommodating regularly intermittent interfering signals in a wireless network, as recited in  claim 1 , further comprising altering a superframe position relative to an interfering signal position. 
     
     
       3. The method of accommodating regularly intermittent interfering signals in a wireless network, as recited in  claim 2 , wherein the step of altering the superframe position relative to the interfering signal position is performed such that no portion of the regularly intermittent interfering signals interfere with any superframe beacon. 
     
     
       4. The method of accommodating regularly intermittent interfering signals in a wireless network, as recited in  claim 2 , wherein the step of altering the superframe position relative to the interfering signal position is performed such that a maximum amount of contiguous channel time that is not interfered with by the regularly intermittent interfering signals is provided in each superframe. 
     
     
       5. The method of accommodating regularly intermittent interfering signals in a wireless network, as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the regularly intermittent interfering signals are radar signals. 
     
     
       6. The method of accommodating regularly intermittent interfering signals in a wireless network, as recited in  claim 1 , further comprising assigning to a network coordinator all channel time in each superframe that is interfered with by the regularly intermittent interfering signals. 
     
     
       7. The method of accommodating regularly intermittent interfering signals in a wireless network, as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the wireless network is an ultrawide bandwidth network. 
     
     
       8. A method of accommodating regularly intermittent interfering signals in a wireless network, comprising:
 scanning in a transmission medium at a coordinator device for the regularly intermittent interfering signals; 
 measuring a current repetition period of the regularly intermittent interfering signals; and 
 altering a superframe period in the wireless network such that the superframe period is equal to n times the current repetition period of the regularly intermittent interfering signals, where n is an integer greater than 1, 
 wherein the regularly intermittent interfering signals are present in the transmission medium during a series of first regularly-repeating time durations, and are absent from the transmission medium during a series of second regularly-repeating time durations, and 
 wherein the repetition period indicates how frequently the first regularly-repeating time durations occur. 
 
     
     
       9. The method of accommodating regularly intermittent interfering signals in a wireless network, as recited in  claim 8 , further comprising: altering a superframe position relative to an interfering signal position. 
     
     
       10. The method of accommodating regularly intermittent interfering signals in a wireless network, as recited in  claim 9 , wherein the step of altering the superframe position relative to the interfering signal position is performed such that no portion of the regularly intermittent interfering signals interfere with any superframe beacon. 
     
     
       11. The method of accommodating regularly intermittent interfering signals in a wireless network, as recited in  claim 9 , wherein the step of altering the superframe position relative to the interfering signal position is performed such that a maximum amount of contiguous channel time that is not interfered with by the regularly intermittent interfering signals is provided in each superframe. 
     
     
       12. The method of accommodating regularly intermittent interfering signals in a wireless network, as recited in  claim 8 , wherein the regularly intermittent interfering signals are radar signals. 
     
     
       13. The method of accommodating regularly intermittent interfering signals in a wireless network, as recited in  claim 8 , further comprising assigning to a network coordinator all channel time in each superframe that is interfered with by the regularly intermittent interfering signals. 
     
     
       14. The method of accommodating regularly intermittent interfering signals in a wireless network, as recited in  claim 8 , wherein the wireless network is an ultrawide bandwidth network. 
     
     
       15. A method of accommodating regularly intermittent interfering signals in a wireless network, comprising:
 scanning in a transmission medium for the regularly intermittent interfering signals; 
 measuring a current repetition period of the regularly intermittent interfering signals; and 
 altering a superframe period in the wireless network such that the superframe period is equal to 1/n times the current repetition period of the regularly intermittent interfering signals, where n is an integer greater than 1, 
 wherein the regularly intermittent interfering signals are present in the transmission medium during a series of first regularly-repeating time durations, and are absent from the transmission medium during a series of second regularly-repeating time durations, and 
 wherein the repetition period indicates how frequently the first regularly-repeating time durations occur. 
 
     
     
       16. The method of accommodating regularly intermittent interfering signals in a wireless network, as recited in  claim 15 , further comprising: altering a superframe position relative to an interfering signal position. 
     
     
       17. The method of accommodating regularly intermittent interfering signals in a wireless network, as recited in  claim 16 , wherein the step of altering the superframe position relative to an interfering signal position is performed such that no portion of the regularly intermittent interfering signals interfere with any superframe beacon. 
     
     
       18. The method of accommodating regularly intermittent interfering signals in a wireless network, as recited in  claim 16 , wherein the step of altering the superframe position relative to the interfering signal position is performed such that a maximum amount of contiguous channel time that is not interfered with by the regularly intermittent interfering signals is provided in each superframe. 
     
     
       19. The method of accommodating regularly intermittent interfering signals in a wireless network, as recited in  claim 15 , wherein the regularly intermittent interfering signals are radar signals. 
     
     
       20. The method of accommodating regularly intermittent interfering signals in a wireless network, as recited in  claim 15 , further comprising assigning to a network coordinator all channel time in each superframe that is interfered with by the regularly intermittent interfering signals. 
     
     
       21. The method of accommodating regularly intermittent interfering signals in a wireless network, as recited in  claim 15 , wherein the wireless network is an ultrawide bandwidth network.